The present invention relates to a vehicle superstructure, in particular a superstructure for railway vehicles with fixed end walls and a load bearing platform on which hoods can be moved on rollers, at least one of the hoods having wall and roof sections which can be moved outwards to allow the said hood to be moved along the vehicle over another hood.
The covering over the load bearing surface of such a superstructure comprises at least two hoods which are aligned with each other and are supported on rollers and, to simplify the loading or unloading the vehicle, can be pushed inside each other such that, depending on the direction of displacement of the hood, the left or the right half of the platform can be exposed completely.
Also known are hoods of different sizes, which are mounted on the load bearing surface of a vehicle and which can be pushed inside each other.
The previously mentioned superstructures with moveable hoods feature however a number of disadvantages which are related to the design and the handling of the said hoods.
It has for example been found disadvantageous with such superstructures that the surface area available for the load to be transported can not be fully utilised because of the facilities on the platform mounted parallel, side-by-side for moving and/or guiding at least two hoods. Vehicles with hoods of different sizes have shown difficulties in particular during loading and unloading, as the items being transported often lie against the inner wall of the hood and make the movement of the hoods more difficult.
The object of the present invention is to develop a vehicle superstructure with moveable hoods which is free of the disadvantages associated with the known, previously mentioned vehicle superstructures.